Todd Harkins cut loose as PG Cougars GM

The Prince George Cougars are in the market for a new General Manager.

EDGEPRO Sports and Entertainment, the ownership group of the Cougars, issued a news release tonight (Monday) announcing the contract of Todd Harkins will not be extended.

The 49-year-old Harkins joined the Cougars in the summer of 2013 as the team’s Head Scout and Director of Player Personnel.

One year later (2014), he was promoted to General Manager after coming to terms on a four-year deal.

Under his leadership as GM, the team finished with a regular season record of 136-126-13-13.

The Cougars were just 3-12 in the playoffs during his first three years, and failed to qualify for the 2018 post-season.

Prince George won its first-ever BC Division regular season pennant in 2016-17 with a record of 45-21-3-3, but made a quick unexpected first round playoff exit after they lost the series to the Portland Winterhawks, 4-2.

This 2017-18 season, the team went from first to worst, sliding all the way down to not only last in the B.C. Division, but last in the Western Conference.

With a record of 24-38-5-5, the Cougars ended up 21st out of 22 WHL teams, finishing only ahead of the Edmonton Oil Kings.

As part of a youth movement, Harkins made several deals in January just prior to this year’s trade deadline.

One major move that backfired on Harkins came in January of 2017 when he dealt then 17-year-old Justin Almeida and other assets to the Moose Jaw Warriors for Nikita Popugaev.

The Russian forward quit the team in October for so-called ‘personal reasons.’

Almeida helped the Warriors win their first Scotty Munroe Memorial Trophy (regular-season champions) as he was 10th in scoring with 98 points (43 goals) in 72 games.

He was also tied-for-10th with a plus-42 rating.

The Cougars attendance dropped more than 600 fans a game, going from an average of 3,626 last season to 3,024 this season.

Head Coach Richard Matvichuk, who was hired by Harkins, has one year left on his contract.

Cougars Governor Greg Pocock, who was part of the ownership group that promoted Harkins to GM, was not in attendance during the team’s Awards Banquet on Sunday.

Pocock was recently replaced as Team President by co-owner John Pateman.

One of the six co-owners of the team, former NHL and PG Cougars defenceman Eric Brewer, will speak to the media Tuesday after 10AM.